Oral History Project Planned for Rosenwald School
February 10, 2013
The Cape Charles Rosenwald School Restoration Initiative is working to preserve the history of the old Cape Charles Rosenwald School, its alumni, and faculty. The group has been awarded a $2,000 grant from the Virginia Foundation of the Humanities to conduct an oral history project entitled “Voices from Over the Hump – An Oral History of the Cape Charles Elementary School – A Rosenwald School.”
The project captures in words and film the history of the Cape Charles Elementary School (identified on the historical highway marker as the Cape Charles Colored School), from the experiences of surviving alumni, faculty, and members of the school’s community, as well as from existing institutional records, personal photos and other historical documents collected from local government and private individuals.
The interviews are conducted by students from the Old Dominion University, guided and supervised by Dr. Bridget Anderson, ODU Associate Professor of Linguistics. The students will record, transcribe and analyze the interviews using ethnographic methodology.
The data collected and analyzed will provide the foundation for a documentary film, booklet of excerpts from the oral history interviews, archived scholarly research materials, a virtual museum for a future web site and traveling exhibit that could be used in schools and other venues in the region.
Nine interviews have been conducted. Six additional interviews are scheduled for the spring. Alumni and faculty members interested in archiving their experiences are asked to contact the Initiative through their Facebook page (click here).
Comments